Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Linas Kleiza – Out

Charlotte
Tyrus Thomas – Out

Player Report

Jose Calderon
Heading into the all-star break, Jose’s was mightily struggling with his shooting. Over the last five games, he has gone 12-45 from the field (1-103FG); the Raptors went 1-4 in that stretch. He has been exceptional at getting people involved on offense with his passing, avering 10.6 over the stretch. Of his 8.9ast/game on the year, 4.2 of them result in a dunk or layup, I like that a lot. Tonight against Augustin, I just worry about the open looks DJ will get from behind the arc; he’s averaging 14pts 7ast in the two games played against the Raptors.

Truth be told, I’m more concerned about the drop-off when Bayless gets in the game. He’s going to have to deal with a hottish Shaun Livingston, who has turned it up a notch over the last few games. I have no real data to support this, just what I’ve witnessed and inferred, but Jerryd hasn’t been pulling his weight consistently enough.
Box: 9pts 13ast 4rebs

DeMar DeRozan
Should DeMar have won his 1st round match-up with Griffin? Probably, but when you’re in the Griffin’s house, and there’s buzz that he’s gonna jump over a car, you have to execute perfectly; DeRozan didn’t. Much like Bargnani, I’m running out of things to say about DeRozan. All I’m hoping is that if he wants to shoot the ball so much, that he does a better job of getting better looks at the rim from 16+ feet. Run around a few low screens, curl towards the basket once-in-a-while, mix it up. If you’re going to carve your niche out as a scorer, than you need to be damn good at it. Defenses tighten in the post-season, and nothing is easier than stopping a shooting guard who shoots more than half his shots from 16-18ft without having to get himself open (someone finds him standing around). Look, I like the kid a lot (he’s been my Twitter background since last year), and I know it’s only his 2nd season in the league, but all I’m saying is that it isn’t too early to start to develop good habits, and hone the tricks of your trade.

Stephen Jackson makes me nervous. He does a lot of things out on the court; so when that shot isn’t falling, he’s giving you rebounds, assists, steals and playing solid defense. Not saying anything other than he is someone to look too at the 2-guard spot, for the breadth of his contribution on the court.
Box:  16pts 4rebs 2stl

Sonny Weems
It’s never easy checking kamikaze wings like Wallace, but if Sonny’s size/strength is of any use at all, it’s in these situations. Not saying that Sonny has what it takes to shut Wallace down, he doesn’t (Wallace is averaging 17.5pts 9rebs 4ast 4blk this season against the Raptors), but he can make it him hard on both ends of the floor IF HE DOESN’T BAIL HIM OUT BY SHOOTING  CONTESTED JUMPER, AND ALWAYS MAKES AN EFFORT TO ATTACK THE RIM. That’s Sonny style; tight but aggressive. Get out in the open court and lay it up; get the ball on the wing, fake the shot and go baseline for a dunk. Attack the paint, spin right and lay it up with your left hand. You have great physical gifts man; please jah, show him the way!
Box: 10pts 6rebs

Amir Johnson
It was hard watching him try to make that pass off the backboard, but it wasn’t his fault. If DeMar wanted someone who could make that play, he should have brought Calderon with him. Hell, even Weems would have done a better job after that perfect pass he threw off the side of the back-board last season at the dunk-off for DeMar.

No Raptor benefited more from the all-star layoff than Amir, who has been an absolute warrior playing through injury. He’s going to get a lot of different looks against Diaw, Jackson and Wallace (the latter two from time to time), but our boy is up to it. I have no worries here.
Box: 10pts 13rebs 4ast 1blk

Andrea Bargnani
If Bargnani just did one other thing well to go alongside his scoring, I’d have no problem with him. Frankly, if he blocked 2+ shots a game, I’d be his biggest cheerleader since it would mean his defensive rotations were solid and he was aggressively challenging shots in the paint. 2+ blocks a game also means he would be affecting countless other shot attempts, which makes him a more agile, and offensively more efficient version of Andrew Bogut.

Nothing feeds my rage like Nazr Mohammed having season defining games against the Raptors front court. The guy is averaging 12pts 6.5rebs in 18.5min against the Raptors this season, well above his season/career averages. Just need to put a body on him, and box him out until he folds; there’s no secret in playing the guy. As for Kwame Brown…lol!
Box: 22pts 6rebs 1blk

Keys to the Game

Score in the Paint
It’s safe to say that with Diop injured, the Bobcats don’t have the size/strength to battle Andrea, Amir and Ed in the paint. Their perimeter defense is a different story. With both games these teams have played this season being determined by 6-points or less, getting easier baskets in the key is the way to go. I just don’t want to see Stephen Jackson stripping Bargnani at the top of arc again.

Rebounding
With the potential for the pace of the game to slow considerably, making each possession that much more critical, grabbing as many rebounds against one of the best rebounding teams is paramount. A lot of the rebounding burden will have to fall to DeRozan, Weems and Wright who have to deal with tremendous rebounders on the wing in Jax and Wallace. If these two approach double-digits in rebounds, it will spell trouble for the Raptors.

No Easy Buckets
The Bobcats are the 3rd worse scoring team in the association; with a lot of that having to do with the questionable shots Stephen Jackson takes. Defensive rotations need to be tight, and the ball needs to be protected at all times to minimize the Bobcats quality looks at the rim.

The Line

The gamblers have the Cats down as 7.5 point favourites with an over/under of 195.5. This line sounds a bit absurd with the shuffling of coaches mid-season, and the trade rumours surrounding Jackson and Wallace, but the game is in Charlotte, and the Bobcats will the luxury of drawing some inspiration from one of their Lady Cats. Raptors beat the line, but lose by 4.

I’m not sure wtf happened on Saturday, but that was one of the best games I’ve seen in a long time (had to fire it up on NBA League Pass Broad Band). Never-mind that the Raptors allowed the Pistons to go up by 25 points or so somehow; but the trust, chemistry and teamwork needed to come back 25 in the last 5 minutes of the game was out outstanding, and makes me excited for tonights game against the Bobcats.

The Bobcats are coming off two brutal losses in a row; the last one so bad that an RR commentator put it this way:

It was so bad, that if Boston never scored any points in the 4th quarter they would have still won.

Ouch…

After getting ripped by Michael Jordan (a 47 year old who could still probably kick most of their asses at the game) for their lackluster play, you can expect a different bunch of guys to be waiting for the Raptors in North Carolina.

The last time these guys played, the Raptors took a 5 point lead into the 4th and fell apart. The game came down to the wire, when some sketchy play calling ended with Bargnani at the top of the arc getting stripped by Jackson.

Injuries

Toronto
Jose Calderon
Reggie Evans
Peja Stojakovic

Charlotte
Gerald Henderson
Tyrus Thomas, GTD

Match-ups

Point Guards
What a bargain Baylesss has turned out to be. It’s not that he’s set the world on fire, it’s that he is starting to get some burn, and is showing Indiana, Portland and New Orleans that they gave up on him too quickly. Saturday against the Pistons, our boy put up 31pts 5rebs 7ast on 12 shots (12 attempts from the charity stripe to boot). That my friends is called being efficient. Without Calderon, it’s going to be difficult to take full advantage of this match-up, but the different look that Barbosa will bring in relief will be huge to winning this match-up. Augustin isn’t the best of shooters, but he still takes about 4 treys a game (40% shooter), last game against the Raptors he went 3-5 from beyond the arc, and did his part to open up the court a bit for Wallace to go all kamikaze. Since he laid a big fat donut against the Celtics on Saturday, you can expect him to come out guns blazing. Without Calderon in the mix, the point guard situation is a little worrisome for me since Bayless is still learning his craft. It’s going to be hit or misss tonight with Bayless.
Edge: Charlotte

Shooting Guard
I hate playing the Bobcats for two reasons, one being Jackson. The guy is 32, but shows no signs of slowing down (unlike me….fml). This is an ideal match-up for DeRozan to get up and down the court and use the athleticism to his advantage; the question is whether or not he’s going too. Since I ripped DeRozan, the kid has turned in a couple pretty solid performances, highlighted with 16pt 4reb performance in the win on Saturday. He still needs to get to the line, averaging under four (didn’t even attempt one against the Nuggets) over the last 5 games. DeRozan turned in a brutalr performance the last time they played, so he should be extra motivated to get at it this time around. I’m concerned about the wing battle tonight, since the Raptors don’t match-up well at all at the 2/3. It will take a solid showing by committee to get the job done.
Edge: Charlotte

Small Forward
19pts 14rebs 5ast 4blks; if you guessed Gerald Wallace’s production against the Raptors the last time out, you are correct. He almost single handedly out-blocked the entire Raptor team. I don’t expect anything different tonight; my only hope is he keeps the jawing on his mouth guard to a minimum. I’m trying to temper myself here a bit, but the small forward position is the most suspect on the Raptors. Between Weems, Kleiza and Stojakovic (if/when he gets back), you’d figure this lot has the tools to be an effective trio. Sadly it hasn’t worked out as such. Both Sonny and Kleiza have shown sparks of something, but neither has been able to maintain any level of consistency in effort/production/predictability.

Tonight against Wallace, Sonny has the athleticism, but not the strength; Kleiza has the strength, but not the athleticism; and Peja will be rocking Armani on the bench. Where does that leave us? Another 20/15 type effort from Gerald.
Edge: Charlotte

Power Forward
If the Raptors are to have a shot at winning tonight, it will come at the 4/5. Last time around, it was Toronto’s offensive rebounding (recurring theme) that kept them in the game to the tune of 14 leading to 12 more possession. Amir was a beast off the bench, putting up 16pts 9rebs in 28 minutes of fairly foul-free play. The Raptors will miss Reggie Evans’ rebounding and interior play, but Ed Davis has been picking up some steam, and should be good to battle with Thomas off the bench.

My real concern is with Amir and Boris Diaw though. Boris is a crafty player who has a lot of moves and a high basketball IQ. If there was a text book player to get Amir into trouble, it would be him. Diaw is a crafty guy, who seems to have a hard time getting to the line, it’s actually interesting. Amir’s been doing a good job of not leaving the ground and trying to swat everything. I actually really appreciate it as he’s showing some marked improvement since the start of the season in this regard.
Edge: Toronto

Center
I’m predicting a long night for Bobcats front court. Still don’t understand why Jordan would trade Chandler for Dampier, then wave Dampier, and still expect to make the playoffs without a big guy who LIKES to play defense and rebound. 30/10 for Bargnani tonight, book it.
Edge: Toronto

Keys to the Game

Pace
Bayless likes to run; DeRozan/Weems/Barbosa like to run. Amir and Bargnani run the break as well as big man in the league…you can see where I’m going right? The Bobcats are the 7th slowest team in terms of pace in the league. If this gets into a defensive match, the Bobcats will have the upper hand, but if the Raptors can get Charlotte to trip over their own feet running backwards on defense, things can happen.

Production on the Wings
DeMar, Weems and Kleiza will all need to turn in a solid performance tonight. Both Jackson and Wallace play heavy minutes, so it’s not like there will be much of an opportunity to catch a second wind when the replacements get into the game. Weems and Kleiza need to be active participants tonight; the solid game against the Nuggets aside, they are averaging a paltry 8.3pts and 7.2pts in the month of December.

Rebounding
While the Bobcats have improved from second worst to 16 in the association in rebounding, they still have a ways to go. The Raptors have been able to weather the storm on the boards left by Evans’ injury with a full-team commitment to crashing the glass, but with the Bobcats solid rebounding on the wings, they can be dangerous. Bargnani will need to carry a bit more of the burden than he normally does, and Weems/Kleiza will have to work a bit harder at keeping a body between Wallace and the glass. It’s definitely doable…

The Line

The gamblers have the Bobcats as 5 point favourites with an over/under of 202;I’m going against the grain, and picking Toronto to take this one by 4.

Chris Denker: The Toronto Raptors have the #9 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and the passionate Raps Fans have some strong feelings about who they would take. Which I think is great! Bryan Colangelo and his group have a big decision to make, do they have their sites set on one guy? Will they trade up? Take my earlier recommendation and trade down? Who knows, we do know that in recent years the #9 pick has produced some great players and some flops.

Dirk Nowitzki, Tracy McGrady, Shawn Marion (Colangelo), Amare Stoudemire (Colangelo), are stars and even Joakim Noah has performed well for Chicago. Others are Patrick O’Bryant, Ike Diogu, Rodney White, and who knows how D.J. Augustin will pan out from last years draft. But that is just the point here isn’t it? Do the Raps want to get a guy to help them win now or get an Augustin who is an unknown talent and wait for his development over time?

Some of the names that pop up most on the Raptors Republic are listed below and if you’ve been following our Position Rankings over at NetScouts Basketball you’ll see some similarities.

A quick look at some of the kids that could be available at 9, and some of the kids that can fill the gaps for the Raptors:

James Harden – 6?5 215 SG – Arizona St.: Lefty, can score in a variety of ways. Strong guard with good size, can play through contact. Winner – led Arizona St. from predicted 9th place finish to top half of Pac-10 and the post-season NIT. Was all league as frosh when Pac-10 was tougher with Kevin Love, OJ Mayo, et al. Good guard rebounder.

DeMar DeRozan- 6’6 211 SF/SG – USC: Good looking stroke although streaky throughout freshman season. Decent footwork as well and really improved, playing best games at the end of the year in Trojans tourney run. Disappeared at times. Great max vertical leap, weak physically, but for a guy who’s touted as an elite level athlete why did test out slower than 11 of 12 SF’s in Chicago Draft Camp? Not to mention slower than all 16 SG’s!

Stephen Curry – 6’3 180 CG – Davidson: Best shooter at the position and in the draft. Great range. Ever heard “it’s a shot makers league”? He’s a combo guard who can flat out stroke it with range. Good handle & passer, enough to play either G spot. Uses picks & creates space well, crafty finishes off bounce. Good hoops IQ, poised, & sneaky quick. If all else fails, he has a career as a spot up 3-pt. shooter. Dad had lengthy NBA career, brother at Duke. His ability to shoot will keep him in league for a long time.

Although he is from Duke, kid is b*d*sssssssss….

Gerald Henderson- 6’5 215 SG – Duke: Very athletic. Runs floor & good leaper, finishes break well. Gets to the rim. Much prefers to shoot of dribble & good mid-range game but needs some work from NBA 3. Has size & strength to be a solid individual defender as well. Father played in league.

Sam Young- 6’6 223 SF/SG – Pitt: I’m a huge fan, let’s make that clear now. Got hurt working out for Raptors – impaled his arm on a testing device, literally had to have it surgically removed yet appeared in Chicago ready to play shortly after. Tough & competitive, defends & rebounds, good scorer & finisher on the break, improved as a shooter over career. Won a lot of games against Big East competition which I think translates. Solid shooter, very good lift fake move to set up drive. Strong & athletic although not as big as some.

Jonny Flynn- 6’0 194 PG – Syracuse: Strong, quick, & explosive PG, best off the bounce. Good in Pick & Roll, needs to become consistent from distance. Smart kid, good personality, solid leadership skills. Has climbed in my view after Big East tourney, NCAA’s, and recent work.

Dajuan Blair- 6’7 262 PF – Pitt: You don’t look at him and think long but he is (7’2 wingspan)! Very strong, physical, great hands. Bangs boards & regularly hammered bigger guys (Thabeet). Smart & crafty post moves, uses R/L, & draws fouls. Co-MVP of Big East. Needs improved stroke.

Dante Cunningham – 6’8 230 PF/SF – Villanova: Steady, smart. Strong guy, good defender and position rebounder. Good medium range shooter who could develop into valuable spot up shooter.

Taj Gibson – 6’9 210 PF – USC: Very long arms which is why he’s a shot blocker because he’s not a leaper. Narrow frame could get bounced around & not skilled enough to play SF. 2nd Round, needs NBADL work.

Marcus Thornton – 6’3 195 SG – LSU: One of the top shooters in the draft, especially in catch & shoot situations. Not going to create too much off the bounce in the NBA. Tested pretty well in Chicago athletic testing but not as big as some other SG’s in this draft. Has worked out well for several teams so far.

Danny Green – 6’6 208 SF/SG – North Carolina: Very good defender. Versatile guy who played 4 positions for Heels. Good leader & winner, competitive. Could find a home on a quality team as a role-player/defender off the bench.

Nando De Colo – 6’5 185 PG/SG – Cholet (France): Lanky thin guard, decent athlete. Very good offensive skills, good off the dribble & pull-up jump shooter. Pretty creative passer in Pick/Roll situations. Has become good scorer in France. Plays with Rodrique Beaubois in France.

Rodrique Beaubois – 6’2 182 PG – Cholet (France): Freakishly long arms (6’10 wingspan) and tremendous athleticism. Max vertical jump (39″) second to Flynn (40″). Also boasted some of the best speed & quickness measures of those tested. Plays with Nando De Colo 6’5 G on Cholet.

Jrue Holiday – 6’4 199 CG – UCLA: Up, down, up, down. Crazy talent coming out of HS but inconsistency isn’t good. Has size and athletic ability but not a pure PG & would be a smallish average shooting SG. Needs a position & time.

Brandon Jennings- 6’1 170 PG – Lottomatica Roma: Based entirely off potential, basically did nothing in Europe. Not a reliable shooter at the moment, everything is off the dribble. Lanky & very athletic but you may need to wait a bit for development & maturity (strength). Definitely has flash & a flair for the game.

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